Immigration

City leaders this week issued sharp rebukes after they said multiple Latino-owned businesses in DeKalb recently were targeted by letters filled with what Mayor Cohen Barnes called “hate speech.”

A Downers Grove man who operated an immigration assistance practice is facing multiple immigration fraud charges, according to a federal indictment unsealed Monday.

“We know there are myths about these laws. But we must not let mischaracterizations and fearmongering obscure the reality that Chicago’s crime rates are trending down,” Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson told the committee

The Health Benefits for Immigrant Adults program covered noncitizen adults age 55 to 64 and was later expanded to cover those as young as 44. It cost $485.3 million over its first two years, roughly 284% more than the combined original estimate for both programs

A pair of health care programs that benefit noncitizens far outstripped its original estimated price tag and cost the state of Illinois $1.6 billion through last summer, according to a new audit of the programs

Hundreds march for immigrant rights in DeKalb. "My goal was to spread a message of love and empathy," 16-year-old march participant Vianney Pacheco said.

About 30 people gathered on First Avenue bridge between Sterling and Rock Falls on Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025, to protest immigration policies enacted by the Trump administration.

About 30 people gathered on the First Avenue bridge between Sterling and Rock Falls on Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025, to protest mass deportations.

Organizers said they were hoping to uplift the immigrant community by hosting Sunday's march, which drew a significant crowd in downtown DeKalb.

A union official says the Trump administration has fired 20 immigration judges without explanation amid sweeping moves to shrink the size of the federal government

With the TRUST Act in place statewide, non-sanctuary resolutions in Grundy County and throughout the state have little legal power, even in the wake of Trump’s changes to federal immigration policy

An electronic sign outside a Palatine church has sparked controversy with its use of metaphorical immigration-related language.

The Trump administration sued Chicago and the state of Illinois on Thursday alleging that ‘sanctuary’ laws in the nation’s third-largest city “thwart” federal efforts to enforce immigration laws

A line of Mexican National Guard and Army trucks are rumbling along the border separating Ciudad Juárez and El Paso, Texas, among the first of 10,000 troops Mexico has sent to its northern frontier following tariff threats by President Donald Trump

Thousands of demonstrators have gathered outside a federal courthouse in Philadelphia and at state capitols in Michigan, Texas, Wisconsin and Indiana to protest the early actions of President Donald Trump's administration

A federal judge in Maryland has ordered a second nationwide pause on President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship for anyone born in the U.S. to someone in the country illegally

In the days following President Donald Trump’s inauguration, Illinois attorney Marleen Suarez has received a flood of clients asking her to prepare paperwork to turn their children to friends, family, or even strangers, if they are deported.

A crowd of more than 150 people gathered in West Chicago to protest mass deportations Monday, saying the policy unfairly targets Latino residents.

Multiple DeKalb County area businesses will close Monday for Day Without Immigrants, a national campaign meant to show the importance of immigrant communities. Protests will address 'these times of uncertainty for many of our community members," a business owner said online.

A Joliet grocery store and several restaurants were closed for one day as part of a nationwide protest in solidarity with immigrants in the face of U.S. President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign.

Two days after nonprofit groups sued the federal government over a stop-work order targeting programs that provide information and guidance to people facing deportation, the U.S. Justice Department reversed course

More than 30 DeKalb County businesses took part in Day Without Immigrants, a nationwide campaign, by closing on Monday to show solidarity in their stance against President Donald Trump’s anti-immigration policies. The campaign also raises awareness for immigrant communities.

How has the possibility for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to enter sensitive areas such as schools affected the Kankakee County community?

DeKalb County education, law enforcement and faith leaders weighed in this week on policy changes from President Donald Trump’s new administration that could bring federal immigration agents into schools and places of worship.

Will County schools, agencies respond to President Donald Trump's executive order declaring the Department of Justice will investigate or prosecute agencies which do not comply with immigration enforcement officers.

The Illinois State Board of Education is encouraging local school districts to adopt clear policies spelling out how and when their staff should cooperate with federal immigration officials carrying out enforcement actions or seeking information from school officials.

Kwame Raoul's guidance reaffirms the limitations set by the Illinois TRUST Act and the Illinois Way Forward Act, which restrict cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities

A poll finds many U.S. adults support the idea of beefing up security at the southern border and undertaking some deportations

DeKalb City Manager Bill Nicklas said Monday it’s not the job of local police to enforce federal immigration law, issuing a statement on city policy hours after President Donald Trump’s second inauguration. Trump has promised mass deportation arrests in Chicago this week.

Pope Francis says Donald Trump’s plans to impose mass deportations of immigrants would be a “disgrace.”

Illinois state law generally prohibits local law enforcement from participating in immigration enforcement, according to the Illinois Attorney General’s Office.

“People are very scared, very concerned, so we try to reassure them, at least,” Sylvia Acosta Chavez, executive director of the Spanish Community Center in Joliet, said in regards to the incoming Trump administrations deportation plans,

Immigrants in Chicago and other U.S. cities have been preparing for immigration arrests since President-elect Donald Trump won the November election

Two days before Christmas, a group led by President-elect Donald Trump's chief architect of immigration policy wrote to state, county and city officials in so-called “sanctuary” jurisdictions to threaten criminal prosecution, jail time and their personal finances

The operation will be concentrated in the Chicago area, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because plans have not been made public. Arrests are expected all week.

McHenry County Sheriff Robb Tadelman says state law limits his office’s ability to work with ICE on the mass deportations that President-elect Donald Trump has promised.

More Americans say immigration should be a top focus for the U.S. government in 2025

Suburban immigrants are bracing for mass deportations

The Joliet region has been a busy place in 2024, with a lot of business development, infrastructure projects and new housing coming in. But the region also saw some tragedy with a mass shooting and the death of a toddler from neglect and drugs.

Grundy County Sheriff Ken Briley said in the case of deportation, the Sheriff's Department wouldn't be allowed to aid ICE unless there's criminal activity involved

President-elect Donald Trump appears to be siding with Elon Musk and his other backers in the tech industry as a dispute over immigration visas has divided his supporters

Donald Trump has promised to undertake mass deportations

What might that mean for Kankakee County where 13% of its population is of Hispanic or Latino origin, based on U.S. Census Bureau’s estimates in 2023 is yet unknown

A Kansas official who’s an informal adviser to President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team on immigration issues doesn’t expect mass deportations to prompt arrests of migrants at sensitive locations such as schools and churches

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is set to take office in January with a promise of carrying out mass deportations, leaving Honduras and other Central American countries bracing for a potential influx of vulnerable migrants — a situation they are ill-prepared to handle

A federal judge has struck down a Biden administration policy that aimed to ease a path to citizenship for some undocumented immigrants who are married to U.S. citizens

Donald Trump has promised sweeping action in a second administration

Democratic U.S. Rep. Bill Foster of Naperville believes the most important issue of his reelection campaign is the threat to democracy posed by politicians who say things they know aren’t true

A review of Harris' work on immigration reveals a record that is more nuanced than the one presented by her critics or allies

U.S. arrests for illegally crossing the border from Mexico during July have plummeted to a new low for Joe Biden’s presidency, raising prospects a temporary ban on asylum may be lifted soon